COTABATO CITY—Several Bangsamoro youth leaders attended a two-day meeting to present and discuss the findings of consultations on Youth, Peace and Security (YPS) and manual of operation on Bangsamoro Youth Volunteer Programme (BYVP) from Feb. 13-14, in Davao City.
The youth leaders are members of the Technical Working Group (TWG) from different representations such as ministries and offices of the Bangsamoro Government, Bangsamoro communities, Indigenous Peoples communities, settlers communities, and others.
The Bangsamoro Youth Commission (BYC) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) serve as the TWG secretariat.
According to BYC Commissioner Nasserudin Dunding, the meeting provided space for the youth leaders to review, recommend, and redesign actions to suit the needs and specific agenda of the Bangsamoro youth.
Judith de Guzman, UNDP peace program analyst, said the TWG will provide overall technical and advisory support for the design, implementation and assessment of YPS and BYVP.
The youth of the region’s five provinces — Basilan, Sulu, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao and Tawi-Tawi—were consulted of their perspectives and situations on peace and security for the writing of the regional action plan on YPS in October to December last year.
On the other hand, the BYVP Manual of Operations aims to establish and provide a guide for the volunteers, the program leads, the concerned agencies and future interested applicants.
The document contains the process of application — selection process of the applicants, their deployment, demobilization and post-deployment undertakings.
The BYVP will engage youth from diverse backgrounds: youth representing civil society and community-based organizations, out-of- school youth, unemployed youth, youth who are former combatants or who are children of former combatants, and youth members of faith-based groups, among others.
Bangsamoro Youth volunteers can be engaged in any of the three tracks: Disaster and Prevention, Public Policy and Governance, and Community Organizing and Development.
The TWG have also identified its work-plan and actions to take for the finalization of Regional Action Plan on YPS and BYVP Manual of Operation.
The program was supported by the Norwegian Embassy, European Union, and the Australian Embassy in the Philippines. (Majid Nur/BIO)
